Love Shack
by Andi M.C
Summary: Roberta explores Tormund's farm after their duties have been completed. The two wind up alone in an old shed, but what will happen now that Roberta is wearing all of her feelings on her sleeve? One shot.


**Author's note: **This is another The Darkest Faerie one-shot, much longer than the first. Before I forget, however: Thanks, you two that reviewed my first one! It was much appreciated.

This one leans more towards the friendship/romance side of the story, showing Roberta and Tor as she visits his farm for the first time after the game ends. I don't actually know what happens in the end yet, to be honest, since I still haven't beaten it (My game glitched horribly and I had to start over), but I hope there was nothing drastic that happened to keep any of this stuff from being consistant!

Once again, everyone in here and Tor's farm belongs to Neopets Inc. The only thing I made was the one-shot, written at 4:00 AM a few nights ago.

* * *

"Awww! What a cute little place!"

Cute? That wasn't exactly what Tormund had in mind when it came to the old shed. Perhaps broken, dusty or ruined… Those seemed to fit better, in his personal opinion. But, obviously, something about it appealed to Roberta, for she was eagerly skipping through the corn field to reach it.

Tor couldn't help but smile to himself at her actions. He never knew how impulsive she could be, for on their adventure together, she had always come off as intelligent and collected, at least most of the time. Now that the pressure of both the looming darkness and the duties of a diplomat were off of her shoulders (The latter if only temporary), the acara seemed to have come out of her shell. Now she was playful and fun, getting along great with Lucy and the other kids as well as the adults on Meri-Acres Farms. For Tormund, it was like meeting a whole new person… or, perhaps, finally seeing one person fully and completely.

Ducking to fit through the small hole that served as a doorway, the lupe followed Roberta into the shed. She was already examining every last barrel and crate in the small area, ignoring the dust and the bugs that could be found wherever one turned. Tor couldn't help but feel embarrassed, if only slightly. This area was an older part of the farm, an area they strictly used as field now. The destroyed silo and run-down shed had been left here to rot after the awful lightning storm years ago that had caused the damage. It wasn't exactly what he wanted someone, especially Roberta, to see.

Roberta, however, didn't seem to care about the awful state of her surroundings. Her eyes were wide with wonder and curiosity as she inspected the broken tools and forgotten objects. It was as if she had never seen anything like it before… Which she probably hadn't, Tor rationalized, seeing as she grew up in Brightvale Castle under the watchful eye of her uncle, King Hagen.

"This is so amazing!" Roberta squealed, confirming Tormund's assumptions. "I had read about this kind of stuff, sure, but I've never really seen it in action!" She was looking over a pitchfork with the middle point torn off. "How do you use it?"

Raising an eyebrow, Tor explained rather awkwardly, "Well, you hold onto it… and, uh… lift things with it…" How was he supposed to explain what was second nature to him? He had been working on the farm for as long as he could remember. Gently taking the ruined farming tool from her, he continued, "But this isn't exactly a prime example, Robbie. It's broken."

"Well, yeah, I know _that_," she retorted matter-of-factly. "I still want to know how it works."

Chuckling, Tor began for the door. "Perhaps it'd be better if I showed you with a proper pitchfork from the barn. C'mon."

"No!" Roberta protested immediately, making the knight stop in surprise. "I don't want to leave yet," she explained. "I like it in here."

She _liked _it? Now Tormund was convinced she had lost it. Roberta lived in a _castle_, she lived the high life; how could any of this appeal to her? If it were any other noble in here, they'd get out post-haste. Then again, this _was _Roberta he was talking about, so anything was possible, really…

"Why?" Tormund asked simply, his hand still resting on the top of the doorway. "Even _I _don't like it in here, and I lived on this farm for most of my life."

"I don't know," she murmured thoughtfully, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. "It's like… A little, secluded, private place from everything else, where someone could be alone with their thoughts for a while… Or, like, a clubhouse!" she added brightly. "This would make an awesome clubhouse.

Tormund bit back more laughter. What a change, from wistful to playful! "A clubhouse, huh? Yeah, it'll work, sure… That is, until it rains and the shed floods because of the leaks in the ceiling and the cracks in the walls. Oh! And until the mites around here eat through anything we put in here, of course," he joked, looking around with his hands on his hips.

"Oh, come on!" the sorceress whined. "Have a little imagination! We could put in a door and have a secret knock so we know only to let the other in, and we could use the crates to make a table and chairs…"

"Now you're _really _getting carried away." He was unable to hold in his laughter any longer, trying not to double up. "Aren't we a little old for this?"

"Yeah, I guess… I just never got to do this kind of thing when I was a little girl," she admitted softly, looking around again. Tormund's laugher died immediately upon her words. Her expression, though not overly sad, was enough for him to feel a sharp pang of sympathy. He hadn't thought much on Roberta's childhood in the castle and how deprived it might really have been. Now that he was forced to face it, he realized it couldn't have been fun. "But I bet I know what will convince you!" she said quickly, before the lupe could even attempt to utter a word of solace. She quickly set to work on moving some boxes and crates around.

"What are you doing?"

"You'll see!"

Before long, there was a clear area of floor before them. Most of the dust was pushed away in the moving process from before. Roberta pulled Tormund into the area, holding his hands gently.

"This will be 'Our Spot,'" she told him with a somewhat flirty smile. The knight felt his face grow hot at this, wondering about the different possible meanings of this. Were his fantasies and daydreams finally coming true; perhaps even those highly arousing dreams at night? He grew more and more nervous as the though of it, but did his best to keep his cool as she drew closer.

"'Our Spot,' huh?" He did his best to return the smile, feeling like more of a dork than anything else. "I like the sound of that."

"I thought you might…" Her eyes closed as she pressed her lips to his, causing a multitude of feelings to shoot through Tormund's entire body. He was surprised at how fast he succumbed to her will and how all the passion and care bottled up for her from those longings overtook him as he and Roberta dropped to the floor, the acara pressing the lupe against the wooden floor beneath him. It was as if Tor was coming out of his own shell now, in this kiss, and showing himself completely to Roberta like she had for him. He felt naked and exposed, that was truth, but it didn't matter to him at the moment. Right now, all that existed was Roberta; Roberta, who was stroking the fur between his ears; Roberta, whose body was pressed to his; Roberta, who had dreamed about to no end and craved the company of at every moment, the girl who made him feel complete…

"OOOOOOOOOOH! LOOK AT THE _LOOOOOVERS_!"

The two quickly broke apart, Roberta letting out a slight squeal, at Lucy's outburst. Tormund's little sister and her friends stood in the entrance, giggling uncontrollably. Content with her rabble-rousing, Lucy led the group in a rousing chorus of, "TOR AND ROBERTA, SITTING IN A TREE! KAY-EYE-ESS-ESS-EYE-EN-GEE!" as they ran off.

Tormund simply sat there for a moment, trying to catch his breath with Roberta sitting on his stomach. If he had felt embarrassed before, this surely left it in the dust, and with his luck, Lucy would tell Ma, who would tell Pa, and… What a messy situation.

Looking to Roberta, he could tell her thoughts weren't much different than his by the look on her face, though they may concern different people. "Well, uhm…" she stammered, eyes glued on the door. "That was… er… a surprise…"

"Yeah… Too bad it wasn't a pleasant one," Tor grunted, sliding out from underneath the sorceress and then helping her up. "You all right?"

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be? It's not like came over here and attacked us or something. Just a bit…" She trailed off. Her feeling were obvious. "Well, you know." Suddenly, she giggled. "So, Tormund… About your offer before, with the pitchfork… Well, I'd love to see you in action."

Somehow, Tor found it in himself to laugh despite what had just happened. "You got it. One farmhand lesson, coming right up!" He took her hand into his and guided her out of the shed and into the corn field, heading for the barn. There had been something in those violet eyes of hers, the lupe mused, something that screamed the fact that she didn't regret a single thing in there, even if Lucy was to tell the entire world of what she had seen.

And, in a way, neither did he.


End file.
